1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to means of displaying works of art such as photographs, and more particularly relates to improved decorative three dimensional sculptural display means and to kits for fabricating the same.
2. Prior Art
The systematic storing of photographic prints is a problem nearly everyone has encountered. The problem is most frequently solved by employing a photograph album; or simply by stacking the photos together and binding with an elastic band. These worthy remedies to the photo storage/display problem are not without merit--they are cheap. Unfortunately, these methods also place the photos out of sight unless a particular effort is made to view them.
Means for more effectively and more frequently displaying such photos and the like, especially if simple and inexpensive, would be well received by photographers. Moreover, if such display means could present a set of carefully selected photographs in a manner which could be customized to an individual's taste and which could also result in a decorative sculptural display, the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts.
Dyer et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,862) in an attempt to solve this problem teaches the use of a display kit which enables the user to glue photographs (or other material containing visual indicia on one side) to each other to form an array. Spacer blocks are used to separate adjacent photographs providing a three-dimensional effect. Unfortunately, while the method provides an inexpensive display means, it lacks flexibility. If, for example, after a photographic display such as a family album is constructed, it is desirable to insert a photograph of Uncle Freddy next to the picture of mom, but mom's picture is in the interior of the display, the insertion of Uncle Freddy's picture could only be accomplished with great difficulty.
Zareko, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,708, describes an assembly for the display of pictures employing hinges between frame members which is expandable. Zareko's assembly is designed to display a plurality of pictures in intersecting planes and is unsuitable for wall hanging.
The present invention teaches the repetitive use of three simple inexpensive components to construct a versatile three-dimensional sculptural array which can be quickly assembled and modified without tools. Addition of a fourth component provides means for attaching the finished display to a wall.